Horsemen Transformations

Amongst the powers demonstrated by the Four Horsemen, perhaps the most devastating is their ability to take on large and very powerful forms for brief periods of time. The particulars of the transformation differ between the Horsemen. Only War and Death's transformations have been revealed so far.

The Horseman is broken, but there is still much power in him. For a moment I saw... one who would stand alone against the Destroyer's army.— Samael on War's Chaos Form

”

War's Chaos Form is utilized by way of War building the Chaos energy necessary to transform through successful melee attacks. Once a certain amount of energy is obtained, War is able to trigger the transformation at will. Sustaining the transformation rapidly drains War of Chaos energy, and when the Chaos Gauge is empty, War reverts back to his typical humanoid state. When War is in Chaos Form he is invulnerable and inflicts massive damage; even a Trauma will die in five strikes. War is also able to slam his sword onto the ground in front of him to perform an area of effect attack that damages all foes near the strike. This attack also deals more damage to a single foe than his typical strikes in Chaos Form, but cannot be used as quickly in succession. He is able to perform a leaping strike that also has area of effect properties. Besides powerful enemies like one of the The Chosen, there are few capable of surviving even a brief meeting with War's Chaos form. War is not able to use any of his other weapons, abilities, or Wrath powers for the duration of his transformation. However, his Affliction power, if triggered just prior to transforming, will not be canceled by transforming and will function as it normally would. Once triggered, the transformation can be deactivated prior to fully draining War's Chaos Gauge, but he will lose all his remaining Chaos energy by reverting to normal. The transformations take place in mid-air, which allows War to deal a large amount of damage to all foes near him when he hits the ground after transforming.

Before the Legendary EnhancementWar's Glory is obtained, Chaoseater is the only weapon which can be used to obtain Chaos energy. After finding War's Glory, War's other melee weapons will build Chaos energy with successful attacks, but not nearly as quickly as Chaoseater does. The enhancement also drastically increases the amount of time War remains in Chaos Form for, as well as the rate at which the Chaos Gauge is filled.

War unleashes this power during the Apocalypse in the game's prologue while battling a Trauma with Angels flying overhead instantly recognizing the fiery entity below them. When the Tormented Gate rises to retreat a horn sounding can be heard similar to that of an Earthcaller. All at once, War is drained of his power, unable to sustain his Chaos Form. Later after killing Tiamat, Samael tells him to tap into his inner rage by striking down The Watcher, giving him back his Chaos Form.

Reaper Form is Death's more powerful form, similar to War's Chaos Form. Once transformed, Death takes on a larger skeletal form. His face is completely hidden in the shadows of a cowl, a large robe envelopes the rest of his body, and skeletal wings sprout from his back. He hovers slightly above the ground when fighting on the ground, and is able to use this ability to fly. While transformed, he wields a massive scythe with many skulls engraved into the flat of the blade.

Death can partially tap into his Reaper Form at the end of many of his attack sequences without using any reaper energy. The partial utilization manifests itself as a semi-opaque energy construct in the shape of Death's Reaper form that briefly surrounds him at the end of the aforementioned attack sequences. Reaper form's attack power depends either on Death's Arcane stat or Strength stat, whichever is higher. If Strength is the dominant stat, then the Reaper Form's Critical Chance and Critical Damage will depend upon the Crit Chance and Crit Damage stats, while if Arcane is the dominant stat then it will depend upon the Arcane Crit and Arcane Crit Damage stats. The higher the dominant stat, the more the base damage of the Reaper Form.

Death, like War, is able to acquire the Reaper energy required for a full transformation by landing successful melee strikes. Only his scythe attacks serve to build this energy; secondary weapons will not serve this purpose without the use of a special talisman. A few of his magics also allow him to acquire Reaper energy if upgraded in a particular way, such as Harvest or Murder. While in this form he is not quite invulnerable but the damage he takes is almost entirely mitigated. He deals massive amounts of damage with his scythe, allowing him to easily tear through large groups of weak enemies or go toe to toe with tougher monsters. He is also able to telekinetically control the movements of his scythe, using it, in one instance, to remotely carve up the innards of a monster known as Karkinos. In this form, he is able to teleport short distances and fire purple energy projectiles from his scythe. While he cannot use any of his Wrath powers or other abilities while in Reaper form, the form itself does not affect the status of abilities used just prior to transforming. As such, he can still benefit from magics such as the power boosts and electrical discharges of his Aegis Guard ability. Additionally, offensive "fire and forget" magics such as Frenzy, Murder or Exhume that were used just prior to transforming are not canceled, and function as they normally would while Death's Reaper form is engaged. Like War, Death is able to revert to his usual form at will, but unlike War, he retains any transformation energy that he did not utilize instead of automatically draining the rest of his gauge. Once the transformation ends, either prematurely or after the whole duration, Death will emit an extremely powerful burst of purple energy that severely damages all foes near him. Death is also seen using his transformed state in many fairly casual situations, often activating it in order to take advantage of his Reaper form's ability to fly and hover.

Death is able to access Reaper Form after gaining the first few levels of combat experience on his journey to revive humanity, though it can grow more powerful through further experience. He frequently used it to finish off particularly powerful foes.

Even though it is categorized in the game as a passive ability it is a very special passive ability. War's form can't be used at any time since it needs the Chaos level completely full, and is temporary once activated.

Chaos form's in-game model is a variant of the Fallen, minus the club on its tail and has smaller deformed or vestigial wings. It also wields an added flaming sword.

The Reaper Form is initially weaker than War´s Chaos Form, dealing less damage with a shorter duration and Death can still get damaged by tougher enemies. However, when Death reaches level 15, the duration and strength of Reaper Form increases to the same extent of War's Chaos Form.

Death's Reaper Form grants him an appearance similar to the common depiction of the Grim Reaper.